When you see people perusing magazines on racks, when they find one they want to read, they are not reading every article inside. They look for headlines and titles that catch their eye. The same goes for websites on the Internet. You can learn to write titles that will have visitors stopping in for a spell.
Title Basics
A title is not just a little blurb at the top of your content. That title can be used to further optimize your page. Here is an example. If your website page is about chocolate (a sweet and reoccurring example), the content needs to relate to confections. But, your title doesn't have to be simply "chocolate."
A well-optimized title will include some or all of the following:
- Keywords - You have yet another place on your webpage that keywords can be used to help improve your rankings. If you choose keywords carefully, you can match a phrase that most people are going to use.
- Hook - What is going to entice people to keep reading? Tell them what they will get. "How to Make Chocolate Strawberries" is interesting. Readers know just what they will be learning. Using numbers is even better. "5 Ways to Melt Chocolate" let's readers know that they don't have too much to read and that you will lay it all out for them.
- Focus - Don't take up two lines with your title. Use as few words as possible that will appeal to readers and also include a keyword or a keyword phrase. To reinforce that title, use that keyword again in the first sentence of the opening paragraph.
Even if you have titles on articles you would also benefit from a headline on your webpage. The article is just one portion of the information contained on your webpage. Don't forget that headlines can be optimized as well.
- Font size - Your headline needs to stand out from the rest of the information on the page. Use a larger bolder font but nothing too flowery. You want readers to see it not grimace at it.
- Use keywords - What is the page essentially about? Use that keyword so readers know what all of the information will pertain to.
- Use a link - When someone runs their mouse across the headline they will realize that it is clickable. It can link to the homepage, your site map or anywhere else on your site that would be helpful to visitors.
Titles and headlines are front and center on your page. Make them eye-catching and enticing so visitors will stay and read more.
When you check the stats you are always looking to see how many unique visitors you have to your website. To see those numbers go up every month, you need a method for attracting new readers. This same method will also keep current readers coming back for more. So, what is it?
Who are you?
Every person wants to know that they matter to others. They can matter to their families, friends and even the people they do business with. Why do you think barber shops and hair salons are so popular? The business is based on delivering a finished product AND building a relationship.
As an online business owner, you readers want to know that their presence matters. They have come to you looking for something. Again, what is it?
It would be naive to think that each person that visits your website or blog is there because of you. They may not have known your name before they clicked on your link in the search results. After they leave your site, they many never remember your name again unless you do something to change that.
What do you want?
You have interests. You started your online business because of an interest or a passion for something. Your readers also have passions. The informative content that you supply could be the final link to someone realizing the dream of entrepreneurship, home ownership or even buying a new car. The best way to find out what you readers want is to take an interest in their likes and dislikes.
Now, your website is about the business that you are building, but knowing something about the people who are getting you there can help your business to evolve. For instance, you may provide information about how to stay organized in business and in life, but the majority of your readers are interested is personal coaching. Starting a personal coaching line of products will meet their needs in a new and more focused way because you took the time to find out about their interests.
How do I help you?
Here are a few ways that you can get in touch with your reader's interests:
- Surveys
- Offer contests for guest blogging spots
- Create a "reader spotlight" or a "customer spotlight" on your website
- Send out feedback emails with purchases
Readers have interests too and they are important for you to know. Now that you know who your readers are and how you can help them, use those tools to find out what they want. Then, give it to them! You'll see an increase in readers, customers and sales because you took the time to find out what they needed and provided it to them.
Your website is a gold mine. It can take your business from so-so to wow. All you need to do is learn how to use your statistical information to help you get it done.
Website stats tell you a variety of things. You can find out where your products are booming and busting. You can learn what visitors like and dislike about your site. Are your keywords working? That can be explained also.
The sum total of your website is not content. While content is still king when it comes to providing useful information, it is just one aspect that can be optimized on your site. So much has been written about keyword optimization in content that some might wrongly believe it is the only important part of website optimization.
That is what we are really talking about here - website optimization. Start with the content but don't leave it there. Search engines bots will crawl the entire page for keywords not just your content. Let's take a look at other options for tricking out that website and making it sell itself.
1. Anchor Text - Anchor text is the text that is displayed over hyperlinks on your content. If your article refers to information found elsewhere on your site, don't just say "click here" to find more information, use keywords from that page as your anchor text. Not only are you getting credit for the keyword but it links to another page that also is keyword optimized (or it will be once you are done).
2. Picture Text - People love pictures especially on websites and shopping carts. It can be a big mistake to buy sight unseen. Each picture can have a tag associated with it. When someone runs across the picture with their mouse, they can again see relevant keywords for that page.
3. Links to Other Website Pages - One technique for creating your webpage is to list what services you offer or what your product can do on the homepage. That homepage can be doing more. If you have dedicated a separate page to each unique feature, place those links on the homepage as well. In your list of product features, use keyword-rich anchor text to describe them and have each description link to a different page. Search engines love that.
Are you getting the idea? Your website can be more exciting to the search engine crawlers with just a few changes.
Search engine optimization can be one of the hardest and most rewarding tools in your business arsenal. It helps with marketing, advertising and selling your products or services. Because it is a wide category, there are plenty of places where you can go wrong with it. Here are just five of them.
Under-Using Your Website - Optimizing your website involves every aspect of your site. Most people think that the only important part is the content. Optimizing content is only one piece of the pie. When you concentrate on content and not on leveraging all areas of your site, you are robbing your own pockets.
You will get visitors if your content is on point, but the search engines can rank you even higher if you used keywords in other places. Articles have titles, pages have headlines and pictures have captions. Learn to use them all to your advantage.
Keyword Overload - Search engine bots are smarter than most people give them credit for. Using keywords too much will cause them to just skip over your content and thus give you a lower ranking for those keywords. It seems like you could use as many as you wanted in an article and that would make you more visible but it's not true.
Search engines recognize when people are cheating by overstuffing their articles with keywords. Content that is well written will stay within the allowable keyword density. And, those keywords will show up naturally throughout the article so it doesn't sound like it was thrown together just for the keywords.
Keyword Density - You can have too few keywords as well as too many. Some people write their content without even thinking about keywords. You might have a strong article that talks about cutting edge information but without something to help the search engines look upon you favorably; no one will ever read it. Using the word once or twice in an article is not going to cut it.
No Variety - For better optimization, a website doesn't use just one keyword. If you started with the word "chocolate", your entire website wouldn't be based on it. People use a variety of similar words alone or in combination to find what they are looking for with search engines. If you make and sell chocolate fudge, there are better words to use: fudge, Candace's fudge, how to make fudge, etc. it's like throwing all your eggs in one basket if you don't diversify your keywords.
Reciprocal Links - While it is true that backlinks can increase your search engine ranking, all links are not equal. And search engines like organic links better than simply offering reciprocal link sharing. You want others to link to you because they like your product and what your website presents to others. Using quality content on your site, in article directories and on social bookmarking sites can increase your quality inbound links for higher ranking.
Start out on solid footing with SEO. Learn how to avoid common mistakes that first-timers make.
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